Modern asphalt paving techniques may seem fairly new throughout the construction industry, but the truth is asphalt has been around for a long time. As we'll see later in this article, for thousands of years, people have been using this material to pave roads. In this informative blog post, we'll learn more about the long history of asphalt Let's get started!

A Naturally Occurring Substance

ScienceDirect gives us a closer look at where asphalt originates in our world. Asphalt in its natural state is a mixture of sand, limestone, and gravel. It occurs naturally in many places including asphalt lakes. Most of the asphalt that's used today comes from crude oil and is a by-product of its refinery. Commonly used asphalt is a mixture of pure asphalt and many other substances.

A Substance of Many Ancient Uses

Although the National Asphalt Paving Association was founded in 1955, the use of asphalt has been around for thousands of years. According to the Virginia Asphalt Association, it's documented that asphalt was used by the Mesopotamians in order to waterproof the paths that were leading to their temple baths. Phoenicians also used it to waterproof their merchant ships. The first use of asphalts for roads is credited to the Babylonians though in 625 BC. It was also later used by the Romans.

A Leading Modern Paving Solution

The experts at Techhistorian, a tech and engineering-centered publication, provide us with key details about where our current paver asphalt techniques originated. The modern use of asphalt for road building is accredited to John Metcalf and Englishmen who built the first asphalt road in Yorkshire in the late 1700s. He is reported to have built about 180 miles of asphalt roads. Thomas Telford built over 900 miles of asphalt roads in Scotland later in the 1800s. The methods used were later perfected by John Loudon Macadam, who used broken stones and asphalt to make his roads. His method was later called “tarmac.”

A Booming American Industry

According to the Virginia Asphalt Association, asphalt for road building became popular in America in 1870 when a Belgian chemist named Edmund DeSmedt completed the first asphalt road in Newark. This man is also responsible for paving Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington with 54 thousand square yards of sheet asphalt taken from Trinidad Lake.

Fast forward to 1956! Records from the Federal Highway Administration show that the United States Congress passed the Interstate Highways Act, allocating 51 billion dollars to states to construct roads, many of which were completed using asphalt. Once machinery came along to help enhance the final product of asphalt roads, such as leveling, finishing, and steel rollers, asphalt became the go-to-road construction material in America used by paver professionals, including our team at Just Paving Inc.

This is just a short history of the use of asphalt. If you're looking for quality asphalt paver professionals in your area, please contact our team at Just Paving. We are here for all of your paving needs!